116 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS. 



a string from the end of a long stick, so as to make a 

 clattering noise when moved by the wind.* 



Haliotidee in great quantities are brought to Birming- 

 ham from various parts of the world, for making mother- 

 of-pearl ornaments, inlaying papier-m^clie tables, etc., 

 and also for making buttons. An instance has been 

 known of a ship arriving at London from Panama, 

 bringing more than two millions of pearl-shells for the 

 English markets. 



The wholesale price in the Channel Islands for shells 

 of the first quality is £10 per ton, and by retail they are 

 sold at Id. per lb. 



Mother-of-pearl, however, is not only made from the 

 Haliotidse, but the snail pearl-shell Turbo cornutus, the 

 white pearl-shell, Meleagrina margaritifera, are also used 

 in this manufacture. Curiously carved pearl-shells, the 

 work of the monks at Bethlehem, are sold by them to pil- 

 grims and others who visit the Holy Land, and Bruce 

 states that mother-of-pearl inlaying was brought to great 

 perfection at Jerusalem. The nacre was from the Lulu 

 el Berberi, or Abyssinian oyster. Great quantities were 

 brought daily from the Red Sea to Jerusalem, and cru- 

 cifixes, wafer-boxes, and beads were made and sent to 

 the Spanish dominions in the New World.f 



In the days of luxury at Rome, the pannels in the 

 golden house of Nero were of mother-of-pearl, enriched 

 with gold and gems ;+ and dishes, bowls, and cups of 

 pearl-shell, were greatly esteemed in the sixteenth and 

 seventeenth centuries. Leland, in his ' Collectanea,^ § 

 describes the christening of the child of the Lady Cicile, 



* Jeffreys' ' British Conohology,' vol. i. ; Introduction, Ixix. 



t Bruce'a Travels ; see appendix, vol. viii. p. 337, 338. 



X ' Gems and Jewels,' p. 24. § Vol. ii. p. 691. 



